Building Wellbeing and Resilience at Scale

1 in 2 Australians

will suffer a mental illness in their life

and 1 in 5 adults

each year

Cost of mental health in Australia is

$192b/yr(12% GDP)

1 in 3 worker’s

productivity compromised due to

reduced wellbeing

Psychological Injury claims costs increased

5 x more than

non-psych claims costs

ReachOut.com and EY report ‘Crossroads: Rethinking the Australian Mental Health System’

Mental Health AustraliaThe Herald-Lateral Economics Index of Australia's Wellbeing

Return on Investment Workplace wellness versus wellbeing

organisations have traditionally invested in wellness (e.g. healthy eating and being active)

investment in effective wellbeing programs (building psychological assets) has a much higher return on investment

$1 investment in wellness returns approximately $2 to the organisations, whereas $1 investment in WELLBEING returns approximately $5 to the organisation (Rath & Harter, 2010)

Outcomes

Research indicates that employees with high wellbeing are:

more engaged, motivated, productive, healthier (more active), loyal (talent retention / less turnover), play more effective roles in teams, creative (open to innovation and ideas, and change), display more energy at work, provide better customer service, less sick (fewer days away), and recover quicker from sickness

“… people want to live meaningful lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves and to enhance their experience of love, work and play ” Professor Martin Seligman, 2011

Could the science of Resilience, Wellbeing and Positive Psychology reduce mental illness and build population mental health?

“And what else are we striving for if it’s not for the wellbeing of all of our citizens ”Wellbeing and Resilience Centre launch, April 2015

Positive mental health and wellbeing for a resilient society

Position South Australia as the State

of Wellbeing

Measure the wellbeing of all South

Australians and beyond

Generate and publish research on how to

build wellbeing efficiently, at

scale, across the life course

Teach, build and embed wellbeing

science

LEAD MEASURE BUILD EMBED

RESEARCH

Organisations, Government, Schools, Ageing, Youth, Community

Shifting the population curve up the scale of mental health

Positive EmotionEngagementRelationshipsMeaningAccomplishment

Physical ActivityNutritionSleepOptimism

Wellbeing frameworkPERMA+

Undo the effects of negative emotions- Garland, Fredrickson, Kring, Johnson & Meyer

2010

Increase Creativity

- Fredrickson 2003

Predict a longer life-span

- Xu & Roberts 2010

Help prevent and speed-up recovery from illness, including the common cold, stress and heart diseases- Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper & Skoner 2003, Fredrickson & Levenson 1998

Build physical, intellectual, social and

psychological resources

- Fredrickson 2003

Broaden people’s attention and their ability to think and act- Fredrickson & Branigan 2005

Promote resilience- Tugade &

Fredrickson 2004

Positive Emotions can:

Lower levels of stress

- Cohen & Wills 1985

Lower levels of obesity

-Christakis & Fowler 2007

Positive Relationships are linked to:

Greater longevity- Berkman & Syme

1994

Faster recovery from

illness- Cohen 2007

Better heart health

- Brummett et. Al 2001

Protect against cognitive decline in

older age - Seeman, Lusignolo, Albert

& Berkman

A strong sense of meaning can

Help to facilitate post-traumatic

growth- Boniwell, 2008

Increase longevity and life satisfaction- Kashdan & McKnight,

2009

Help with employee

engagement- Baumeister & Leary,

1995

Increase levels of interest at work Wrzesniewski et al.,

1997

Measured so far: 38, 000

Resilience is the ability to grow and thrive in the face of challenges and bounce back form adversity

People who are resilient (confident in their ability to withstand adversity) are also more likely to take advantage of opportunities

“The ability to take advantage of the situation is different to the ability to endure it”

Resilience and wellbeing training is known to help people be more mentally tough, emotionally strong, and physically fit by building individual capacity to withstand, recover, and grow in the face of changing demands

Resilience

Which

interventions?

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness initiative in the US Army 2008 - 2012

• systematic approach to building wellbeing and resilience

• to reduce mental illness and train individuals to be:

o physically fit

o mentally tough

o emotionally strong

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Outcomes

10 empirically validated skills

evidence base linking to of PERMA+

o strengths (using VIA)

o fixed and growth mindsets (Dweck)

o gratitude

o learn about how to build GRIT (Duckworth)

o mindfulness

Building upon the fields of:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• Positive psychology

• Theories of organisational development and behavioural change

Precision Skills

RESULTS Auto-manufacturing industry

Department for Correctional Services

10 months into 3 year project to measure and build the wellbeing of 2000 staff

1st measure complete

16 Resilience Trainers have trained >400 staff

TAFE SA

6 months into an 18 month project to measure the wellbeing of 1000 staff

1st measure complete

Scope of Intervention

Not just Me, but We and Us

In summary Wellbeing and resilience can be measured and taught.

The brain is not fixed - anyone at any age can learn how to boost their wellbeing and resilience.

Evidence shows the link between individual wellbeing and resilience to physical and mental health outcomes, as well as organisational outcomes such as productivity and performance and population health outcomes.

The ROI for investment in wellbeing (compared to wellness) is high.

The Lead, Measure, Build, Embed approach (in a Research environment) utilising validated measures and evidence based interventions can be tailored and scaled to the varying needs of organisations and community groups for real impact.